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Music to be born to, music to die to

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Rapid responses are electronic comments to the editor. They enable our users to debate issues raised in articles published on bmj.com. A rapid response is first posted online. If you need the URL (web address) of an individual response, simply click on the response headline and copy the URL from the browser window. A proportion of responses will, after editing, be published online and in the print journal as letters, which are indexed in PubMed. Rapid responses are not indexed in PubMed and they are not journal articles. The BMJ reserves the right to remove responses which are being wilfully misrepresented as published articles.

I would choose Frank Zappa's 'Broken Hearts Are For Assholes' to
ensure I don't get too grandiose about saying goodbye to the world. A
friend who succumbed to a melanoma at the age of 30 chose the same Zappa
song for his wake. It was perfect.

To be born with Vivaldi's Four Seasons is the best description of
life...if I can have the choice. But, to die with what music? I don't know
at present. But, I can imagine...that may be Benny Goodman's: Goodbye.

As human beings, we are endowed with freedom of choice, and we can
not shuffle off our responsibility upon the shoulders of nature. But only
"birth" and "death", we seem so weak to meet them, to go through that
particular moment. So with the accompaniment of music, may be one will feel
better on stepping these two occasions?

"Music to be born to.." our own choice accompanying the elective
caesarian delivery of our son in 1999 - influenced by the wish to bring
peace and tranquillity to the scene, and no sudden loud crescendos to
distract the obstetrician!
Vivaldi's Recorder Concerto

"Music to die to.." definitely the chance to make a statement either
about oneself or the life you lead (or even wanted to lead).
On a positive note: the Title song from the Musical Film "Cabaret", sung
by Liza Minnelli.
While For pure emotional power: the 2nd movement from Beethoven's 7th
Symphony.

A warning note: avoid songs beloved by all, unless you want to colour
your friends' musical appreciation forever - I have never been able to
listen to Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge over Troubled Water without
recalling the funeral of a friend killed in a car accident at 19 (25 years
ago).

The same music in both cases - anything by Stockhausen. For the
baby, there is the reassurance that things can only get better, whilst for
the dying person there is the supreme comfort that they will never have to
hear such sounds again.

As an adolescent psychologist, I was interested to read the article
on music to be born and die to. Many of my teenage clients ask about
whether there is a particular piece of music that might assist them while
they study. I wondered whether there are any peer reviewed studies on
whether specific types of music have been found useful in this respect?